Convergence in Danville
by DragonKey27
Summary: Lawrence and Linda invite their old college roommates and their families to visit for a week, and Candace is looking forward to teenage gossip. But what happens when things get weirder than anything her brothers have ever built? Part 2/21 in the Acolytes of Darkness saga. Rated T because of a few lines in Chapter 6/7. Epilogue is now up.
1. Houseguests

**Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own American Dragon: Jake Long, Phineas and Ferb, Kingdom Hearts, any other existing franchises/fanfics I mention/borrow ideas from, or any of the associated characters and locations.**

**If I reference any existing fanfics its because I like a particular idea, so credit for those ideas go to those authors.**

* * *

**Prologue: Houseguests:**

It had been a typical summer day at the Flynn-Fletcher household. Candace came to her mother claiming Phineas and Ferb had built a portal to Mars and that she had become its queen. But, as usual, when their mother Linda arrived there was no evidence that proved any of what Candace had seen. Lawrence had just finished explaining that a friend of his from college and his family would be staying in Danville that week when Linda spoke up.

"Speaking of old friends from College," she began, "my old roommate Violet and her family are moving back to New York tomorrow after living in Hong Kong for a year, and they'll be in Danville at the same time."

"Wow," Candace replied sarcastically, "a week filled with complete strangers talking about boring stuff that stopped being cool decades ago."

"Don't worry, kids," Lawrence said, "they both have kids close to your ages, so if you don't want to listen to a bunch of embarrassing stories from where your parents were in college, you can talk to kids your own age about the latest trends or whatever you want to talk about."

"Great," Candace replied, immediately switching into gossip mode. "We can talk about boys, dating, and maybe bust Phineas and Ferb for whatever outlandish contraptions they build."

As the family talked about what they'd do that week, they also wondered about what their guests would be like.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter is so short. It's just the prologue, so I wanted to keep it relatively simple. The next chapter will definitely be longer though. Please read and review.**


	2. Extreme Coincidences

**Chapter 1: Extreme Coincidences:**

6 Days after Hong Kong Longs.

Jake gazed longingly out the window of the airplane as he fastened his seat belt and the last straggling passengers made their way to their seats for the flight out of Hong Kong. His parents, grandfather, and sister sat a few rows in front of him, Trixie and Spud a few behind, and he was all by himself. His thoughts, however, were far from the flight. Despite a fantastic dream date after the battle at Victoria Peak, he hadn't seen or heard from Rose since then. He was worried. Both that he'd done something to upset her, and that something had happened to her. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he failed to notice a familiar blond walking up the aisle towards his seat.

* * *

Rose trudged up the aisle with a dreary look on her face. Her dad had gotten the call that they were moving out in six days the morning after her reunion with Jake, and so the whole family had scrambled to get everything packed. She didn't have time to see Jake during the day, and her dream charm had been thrown in a box during the whirlwind of packing, so she had no way of letting him know what was going on. She felt bad about not calling him, but between packing and saying goodbye to her friends, she was just exhausted. A grumble from behind her jolted her back to reality as she resumed counting off the seat numbers as she made her way towards the back of the plane. Like Jake, her family had been scattered throughout the plane. _Great, _she thought, _twelve hours in a cramped seat sitting next to a complete stranger. _Her exasperation quickly turned to shock, and then again to joy when she saw the row number on her side of the plane (she had a window seat near the back of the aircraft), and then looked down to see a familiar flash of green hair and red cloth sitting in the aisle seat. _I take it all back; _she thought to herself, _I think I'll actually enjoy this flight._

* * *

"Excuse me," came a voice that jolted Jake out of his moping, "but I need to get into my seat."

He turned his head and looked up, and there she was.

"Hey there," he said, a combination of surprise and joy written all over his face

"Hey yourself," she replied.

"So I take it you're flying back to New York this week?" he added as he got up to let Rose slip into the seat beside his.

"Yeah," she answered as she sat down, "we got the call first thing in the morning the day after we fought the Dark Dragon. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but my dream charm got thrown into a box in the craziness of packing, and between the packing and saying goodbye to friends and neighbors, I've just been too exhausted to pick up my phone and call you."

"It's okay, you've forgiven me for worse," Jake responded as he sat back down and buckled up while the flight attendant began making the usual pre–flight announcements. "Besides, it wasn't something you could control."

"Yeah," she replied as the flight attendant finished the pre–flight announcements and instructions. "Just a heads up, I won't be flying straight to New York. Once we get to this Danville place, which for some reason I've never heard of until now, we'll be staying for a week visiting one of my mom's college friends."

"Actually," Jake added as the plane began taxying to the runway, "I was about to say the same thing."

"Wow," Rose said with a chuckle, "so not only are we leaving Hong Kong on the same day, on the same flight, sitting right next to each other, but we're both going to the same place for the same time period for the exact same reasons."

"It is a freaky string of coincidences, but you don't hear me complaining," he replied.

"I never said I was," came her blunt reply.

"I'm so sorry," he quickly tried to apologize as he realized what he'd done, "I didn't mean…"

"Relax," she interrupted with a reassuring smile, "I was just messing with you."

"You scared me there for a minute," Jake replied, "But I still shouldn't have said it," he finished with a regretful look on his face

"Come on, Dragon Boy," Rose teased, "I've forgiven you for worse."

"Yeah," he said, laughing at the irony of her telling him the same thing he'd just told her a few minutes ago. "Although now we really do need to come up with a way to explain our relationship to your parents."

"I think I've got an idea," she suggested.

As Rose launched into a long – winded explanation of her idea for an excuse, she and Jake leaned closer together and talked about what to say to her family until they fell asleep. It was going to be a long but pleasant flight.


	3. Strange Alliances

**This chapter is one of the shorter ones. The chapter lengths will vary based on what I plan to cover in each chapter, so just a heads up. Also, I'm going to try and update this story at least every other week. **

**Chapter 2: Strange Alliances**

* * *

Fury chuckled to herself as the nest of snakes that was her hair hissed with happiness under her rather large hat. _That girl just had to post her vacation plans online, didn't she? _she thought to herself as she sat in an internet café in Danville re–reading Trixie Carter's latest blog post, announcing her departure from Hong Kong. She'd been running from the magical world for weeks since her humiliating defeat at the hands of the American Dragon, that admittedly charming British Wizard, and that pathetic, lovesick mortal. Her sisters were statues at the bottom of the Manhattan harbor, and although she still possessed some of her powers, nobody would offer her shelter. After living in the woods for weeks, she'd been on the brink of surrendering herself to the Dragon Order and spending the rest of her life in a prison cell when she happened to discover a blog by that girl whom the American Dragon worked with saying that she would be in Hong Kong with the dragon's family for a few weeks before flying to some town called Danville.

With that new information, Fury quickly began formulating a plan to get revenge against the dragon as she made her way to Danville. As she hitchhiked across the country, she had gotten in touch with some local scientist to play a role in her scheme. Once she arrived, they'd arranged a meeting at an internet café a few blocks from his lair. She'd been waiting for the past twenty minutes for him to show, and she was beginning to grow angry at being stood up. She was just about to storm out of the building when a human entered the room.

He was a tall man, with balding brown hair, a long, pointed nose, and a large chin. He was wearing a white lab coat over a black shirt and grey trousers. She was about to shove her way past him and leave when he stopped her.

"Excuse me," he said with a high-pitched, nasally voice, 'but I'm looking for a woman named 'Fury'."

"Oh," she replied as she shook his hand, "You must be Doofenshmirtz, then. I was beginning to think you'd never show up."

"I'm terribly sorry that I'm so late," Doofenshmirtz interjected as they walked over to a table in the back where they were unlikely to be overheard. "You see, I had just finished setting up my latest scheme. I was just about to come down to meet you when my nemesis burst into my lair and I had to fight him off before I could get down here. You understand how it is."

"I understand," Fury responded as her potential ally offered her a cup of coffee. "Every villain runs into problems with their foes. Anyway, let's get down to business. You remember our agreement?"

"Yes, I do," he replied. "I help you lure your nemesis into a trap for you to exact your revenge. In exchange, you help me take care of mine."

"Are you still certain you want to join me? You do realize that, once I've defeated my enemies, I intend to conquer the world."

"I'm more interested in conquering the Tri-State area than I am the world because of all the traveling I'd have to too. Never the less, as long as I can have the Tri-State Area all to myself to rule, I'm on board one hundred percent."

"Then it's a deal!" she exclaimed. "While we're here though, I'd like to ask you something. I'd hate to impose but I have nowhere to stay. I've been roughing it for the past few months, I'd like a roof over my head for a change."

"Sure," he replied. "My lair is your lair."

"Thank you," Fury said as she let out a sigh of relief. "It's been ages since I've experienced the comforts of civilization. Now Doctor, I have one more thing to ask you before we get started. Do you believe in magic?"

* * *

**Until next time. The next chapter will be about the Flynn-Fletchers going to the airport and meeting the Longs and Rose's family. It will probably be one of the longer ones.**


	4. Waiting at the Airport

**Chapter 3: Waiting at the Airport**

"Linda," Lawrence asked his wife as they walked up to a screen displaying the arrival times of incoming flights, "What flight did you say your friend Violet was on?"

"2728, dear," Linda replied wearily. They'd accidentally slept in that morning, so they had to hustle to clean the house and make it to the airport on time. Candace had stayed at home to watch her brothers. Linda figured it was a guarantee that Candace would be calling within a couple of hours with claims of another outlandish thing the boys were doing.

"Well, they just landed a few minutes ago," he added as they walked over to the terminal entrance of the baggage claim. "They should be coming through these doors any minute now."

* * *

"Rose, we're very disappointed in you," James Whitman said to his daughter as they walked through the terminal toward the baggage claim. "To think we had the cops try to drag that poor boy to a mental asylum simply because he was upset about you breaking up with him."

When the plane finally landed in Danville, she had wisely asked Jake to wait until she had gotten to the front of the plane before leaving his seat to ensure her parents wouldn't see him. Once she'd met up with her parents and twin sister Lily on the jet bridge, she fed them the cover story she and Jake had concocted on the flight: that they'd dated a couple times in New York but had broken up before the move to Hong Kong. Jake hadn't taken the break-up very well and tried to patch things up with her while he was visiting Hong Kong that summer. She'd felt he was being a bit too clingy and that his timing was a bit creepy, so she'd made up his claims of being a dragon when she'd called her parents so they'd help her get him off her back. Although her parents scolded her for it, she was at least glad that they'd believed her story.

"You had better hope he and his family forgive us for it if they can even get him out of prison," her mother, Violet, added.

"What I want to know," Lily interrupted, "is why you're telling us now instead of before we left Hong Kong?"

"Because we ended up sitting together on the flight," Rose replied as they walked downstairs toward the baggage claim. "We worked out our relationship issues while we were in the air and now we're back together again, so I didn't want you guys to freak out if you saw him at the airport."

Her parents were surprised at this declaration, but accepted it nonetheless. Lily vocally expressed her surprise that they'd managed to make up in the course of a flight, but thankfully nobody questioned the story.

* * *

"Here they come," Lawrence announced to nobody in particular as the first passengers off the flight from Hong Kong walked into the baggage claim.

"There she is," Linda said as she dragged her husband toward a blond woman and her family who had just emerged from the terminal.

"Violet!" she shouted as she embraced her old friend for the first time in years. "It's been a while. How was Hong Kong?"

"It's nice to see you again too, Linda," Violet Whitman replied as the two moms pulled apart. "Hong Kong was fine but we're all glad to be back in the states again."

"I know what you mean," Linda replied as they walked over toward the baggage claim that carried the bags from the flight. "I don't think Candace would last a day in a foreign country. Speaking of kids, Rose and Lily have grown a lot since the last time I saw them. "

"They sure have," her husband Jim noted as they got their bags. "Although Rose had a little bit of boyfriend trouble as we left Hong Kong."

"How bad are we talking?" Linda asked as they stood in the middle of the room.

"Apparently she'd gone out with this guy a few times before we left New York but broke up with him when we moved to Hong Kong," Violet began, "He was in Hong Kong this summer and tried to patch things up, but she freaked out and made up a story about him being crazy and claiming he was a dragon so we'd call the police and get him off her back."

"Wow," Linda replied, "I don't think Candace has ever done anything that crazy, even by her new standards.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked.

"Well everyday this summer she's called me claiming that Phineas and Ferb have built some outlandish contraption. Yet when I get back I find nothing out of the ordinary. Sorry for making you guys wait by the way. One of Lawrence's college buddies is passing through Danville this week on the same flight as you guys, and he wanted to greet his friend before they went to their hotel. They'll be joining us for Lunch tomorrow, though."

"It's pretty much a college reunion weekend," Jim summed up as they all stood there waiting.

"Jonathan!" Lawrence called out as another family exited the terminal, "Over Here!"

_Oh, you have got to be kidding me! _Rose thought to herself as the Long family walked over toward hers.

"Lawrence, old buddy, it's great to see you again," Jake's dad answered as the Long family walked over toward Lawrence. "Hello, Linda," he continued as he turned to address his friend's wife, "how're the kids doing?"

"They're doing fine," she replied as they walked over to retrieve the Longs' luggage. "My, Jake and Hailey have grown."

"They certainly have," Jonathan added as he and the kids picked their bags up off the carousel. "Although Jake's waiting for another growth spirit."

"Jonathan," Linda added, "Have you met my roommate Violet and her husband Jim?"

"No," he replied, "but apparently our kids have dated and recently went through some relationship drama."

"We're sorry for the role we played in that by the way," Violet added. "I don't know if your son told you, but Rose tricked us into calling the police as a result of their little spat."

"It's alright. We got that taken care of. And from what I heard they worked their issues out on the flight."

Rose made a mental note to thank Trixie (for she knew Jake would have a difficult time convincing his family alone) for convincing the Long's to play along with the star-crossed lovers' cover story in front of her parents.

The three families continued to discuss vacation plans, Jake and Rose's relationship issues, and Candace's apparently craziness as they walked outside.

As the three families split, with the Whitmans and the Flynn-Fletchers heading for the parking garage, and the Longs toward the rental car lot, Rose flashed Jake a look that said _Th__is is just freaky, but I'm not complaining_.


	5. Science and Sorcery

**I know I already posted Chapter 4 a few days ago, but as I wrote this chapter I realized it fit better to have it before Introductions, so I'm re-ordering Chapters 4 and 5.**

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**Chapter 4: Science and Sorcery**

"So you're the sister of Medusa?" Doofenshmirtz asked as Fury finished her explanation of who she was. "As in Greek mythology, turn people to stone with a look. THAT Medusa?"

"We need to be together in order for our powers to work," Fury replied, "but yes."

"Wow. I'm business partners with a celebrity!" he shouted, "whether the rest of the world knows it or not!"

Fury smiled at all the attention she was getting. It felt good knowing at least one mortal revered her for who she was, and she was relishing every minute of it. After chuckling inwardly to herself, she prepared to answer Doofenshmirtz's questions and continue with her explanations.

"So," he began, "if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to your sister by the way?

"She and our other sister Euriale are frozen in stone at the bottom of a harbor in New York City. I've been on the run after our previous defeat at the hands of the American Dragon, our current nemesis."

"So since you and Medusa are real, that means dragons, unicorns, leprechauns, and all those guys are real too, right?"

"Yes. The magical community lives in hiding, scattered across the country," she replied. "However the majority of them are concentrated in New York, making it easier for their dragon guardian to protect them."

"So what do the dragons do exactly?" he asked.

"Each nation's magical community is defended by a local dragon guardian," Fury explained. "Dragons can shape-shift into human forms to blend in among them. Their powers first develop at the age of thirteen, so my foe isn't even in high school yet."

"Wow," Doofenshmirtz exclaimed. "My nemesis isn't even human. I fight against a secret agent platypus on a daily basis… Wait a minute. I just realized something. If you and your sisters can only turn people to stone when you're together, how do you plan to get revenge against your nemesis?"

"Alone, I can hypnotize people instead of turning them to stone," she replied. "And I can still fire energy blasts from my hands."

"Oh," he said before he changed the subject "So anyway, what do you have in mind for your revenge scheme against this dragon of yours?"


	6. Introductions

**After working on the next Fury/Doofenshmirtz chapter, I decided to redo this one.**

**Chapter 5: Introductions: **

"We're home," Candace heard her parents call from downstairs as she finished setting up the sleeping bags for her new roommates. "Is the guest room ready yet?" they asked as she bounded down the stairs to greet their guests.

"Yep," Candace replied when she reached the front door and got a good look at their houseguests. Her mother's friend Violet had short, curly blond hair, and her husband Jim had short brown hair with a few grey streaks, while the two girls who Candace assumed were her daughters had hair that stretched at least a foot or past their shoulders. Candace noted her brothers' arrival in the room as her mom introduced everybody.

"Kids," their mom began, "this is my friend Violet, her husband Jim, and their daughters, Rose and Lily."

"Nice to meet you all," the Flynn-Fletcher kids said as they returned the introductions and shook their guests' hands."

"The girls will all be sleeping in Candace's room," Lawrence added as Candace led the two girls upstairs towards the bedroom. "And we've prepared the guest room down here for you two."

"Ferb and I have taken the liberty of compiling a binder and companion disc with information on everything there is to do in Danville to help with planning out each day," Phineas added as he and Ferb carried their pet platypus, Perry, upstairs to their bedroom.

"Hmm…" Lawrence said. "I was expecting something a little more outlandish."

"At least nothing important happened while we were gone dear," Linda replied as they bid her friend goodnight.

Lily and Rose felt like they were being held down under a microscope and being examined piece by gossip – worthy piece. While Candace's first few dozen questions were the ones you'd expect to be asked after living in a foreign country for a year, the string of questions quickly escalated until it felt like they were being interrogated on every minuscule detail of their lives.

"So were there any guys back in Hong Kong you liked?" Candace asked as she continued to rattle off questions to the twins as they got ready for bed.

"I'm still single," Lily answered as she finished brushing her teeth. "Although Rose did have a little bit of drama on the BF front…"

After spending the next hour discussing Rose's relationship drama, during which time Rose's cheeks were as red as her boyfriend's scales, the three girls finally settled down and crawled into their bed and sleeping bags. They continued to chat for another half-hour before Candace's mother came in and told them to turn the lights out. Rose fell asleep immediately, but Candace and Lily continued to talk to keep their minds off the noise.

"Does she always snore this loudly?" Candace whispered as Lily passed her a set of earmuffs that she kept to drown out the sound of Rose's snoring at night.

"Like gravel in a blender," Lily whispered back. "I've gotten used to it. If she made any sound other than that, then I'd think she was dreaming about her boyfriend."

Little did Candace and Lily know, Jake was indeed in Rose's dreams that night. However it wasn't the way they were expecting. Nor could they know that a few miles away, a teenage dragon was using a dream charm to visit the girl he loved in their sleep. All they knew was that they had to put up with Rose's snoring for a whole week.

* * *

**I'm not going to describe what happened in their dream date. I figured that'd be one of those details best left to your imaginations. **


	7. Lunch Date

**A/N: I'm changing the rating to T because of a few lines in this chapter. Just a head's up.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Lunch Date:**

"Yo Jakey," Trixie shouted as she shook the teenage dragon lying in the bed. "It's time to wake up. We've got to get ready to meet papa dog's college buddy for lunch."

"Ugh…" Jake moaned as he sat up and faced Trixie.

"Quit complaining if you want to spend some time alone with your girl, okay?"

"Oh yeah," Jake smiled as he threw off the covers and reached for a piece of paper under the covers. "By the way, Trix," he continued as he handed her the paper, "Rose asked me to give this to you."

"Well then, why did she give this to you instead of…" Trixie began as Jake started walking toward the bathroom to get dressed. Trixie quickly read the note, and immediately realized how Jake even got it from Rose in the first place. "Oh no… Don't tell me you two were dream dating again."

"What do you think?" Jake replied with a smirk as he turned to face her before he closed the bathroom door.

"We're definitely going to need to have "The Talk" with Jake this week," Jonathan said to his wife and father-in-law as they finished getting ready, "before he and Rose…"

"You do know I can hear you guys, right?" Jake interrupted as he emerged from the bathroom, dressed in his signature red jacket and blue shorts .

"Oh right," his dad replied as the group left the hotel room. "I forgot you had super-hearing, son."

"What's the talk?" Haley asked innocently as they headed toward the parking garage.

"It's something you'll find out when you're older, sweetheart," Jonathan answered and quickly changed the subject.

* * *

"You guys seriously built a beach in your backyard?" Jake asked incredulously, "Yeah right."

"We also built a portal to Mars, roller coaster, mini-golf course, ski slope, monster truck arena, shrinking submarine, working time machine, haunted house, put on a full 3-ring circus, designed a best-selling toy, directed a movie, added our sister's head to Mount Rushmore, and became one hit wonders in the span of a single afternoon," Phineas added breathlessly.

"Unbelievable," Jake replied. The nine kids were sitting in the Flynn-Fletcher living room eating sandwiches as they exchanged stories of what they'd done with their summer vacation, while the adults sat in the dining room reminiscing over their college years. Phineas, Ferb, and Haley sat on pillows on the floor, Candace and Lily sat on folding chairs, while Jake, Rose, Trixie and Spud were crammed together on the couch.

"I know it sounds crazy," Candace added, "especially considering that everything they build mysteriously vanishes into thin air before our mom gets home, but everything they've done actually happened. I was crowned the queen of beach limbo for crying out loud."

"How did you guys even do any of that stuff?" Spud asked, impressed with the boys' accomplishments. "And aren't you guys a little young to be doing any of that stuff?"

"Yes," Phineas answered, "Yes we are. As for how we did all that stuff: for the beach…"

And with that, the kids and teens broke off into three groups: Phineas, Ferb, Haley, and Spud launched into a heated conversation about the science of how they made their various summer projects; Candace, Lily, and Trixie continued to ramble on about gossip and dating; while Jake and Rose slipped off to find somewhere to talk about the supernatural aspects of their relationship in private. The other three teenage girls noted the couple's departure, and acknowledged it to each other with knowing smirks.

* * *

**A/N: So another Chapter over and done with. Before anybody asks, I will not be including any Phineas and Ferb characters outside of the Flynn-Fletcher family and Doofenshmirtz (okay, MAYBE Isabella if I can think of a role for her) beyond a name-drop. The focus of the story is going to stay on Jake and Rose, but the P&F cast will get other roles as I continue with my Acolytes of Darkness series. **


	8. A Late-Night Visitor

**Chapter 7: A Late Night Visitor**

_I'm glad the boys are laying off the outlandish inventions this week, _Candace thought to herself as she poured herself a late-night glass of water and walked back to her room. Not having to bust her brothers left her with more time to spend with her friends tomorrow, who she intended to introduce their guests to after a day of shopping. However just as she was walking toward her room, she heard the boys whisper to her.

"Psst. Candace!" Phineas whispered loud enough for her to hear him but not so loud it woke up their parents.

"What is it?" she replied, eager to get back to sleep.

"Ferb and I just saw something flying around outside our house. We aren't sure what it really is, but it looked like a dragon."

"You guys were probably just seeing things. It's probably just a…" Candace's reply was cut short by a muffled thump above their heads. Something was on the roof.

"Okay," she continued, "I might not believe you about the dragon part, but there is definitely something out there."

They froze as they heard the sound of something knocking on a window... coming from Candace's room. When they heard a window opening, they ran toward her room. As they opened the door, they were horrified to find Rose's sleeping bag empty. Not wanting to wake Lily, the three kids tiptoed toward the window just in time to see a real, live dragon take off from the roof of their house with Rose on its back.

"Quick," she whispered frantically, "we've got to follow it. It has Rose."

Not even bothering to think about safety concerns when their guest was in danger, the three siblings climbed out the window, leaped off the overhang above the backyard, and took off in pursuit of the dragon. As they ran around to the front of the house, Phineas and Ferb launched flying camera bots they had built for filming some of their creations so that they could track the beast as they got out their bikes as quietly as they could.

"I can't believe we saw a real-life dragon." Phineas excitedly whispered to Ferb as they pedaled after the winged reptile flying overhead.

"What I want to know is where it's headed," Candace interrupted as they rode through Danville in pursuit of their captured roommate.

"It looks like it's going to land in the park," Phineas replied as they caught up to the creature as it did a downward spiral toward the grassy fields in front of them. "Everybody hide. Ferb, did you bring our listening equipment?" he continued as they hid in the bushes while the dragon landed next to a bench.

What the Flynn-Fletcher kids saw next shocked them. As the dragon landed, Rose climbed off its back, and blue flames immediately engulfed the beast, and in its place stood none other than Jake Long. Their surprise only multiplied when they realized that while the dragon still had its wings, tail, and front claws. They turned on their surveillance gear just in time for their guest to talk to it.

"We do have dream charms for this," they heard her tell him as they saw the two sit down on the bench

"I know," they were surprised to hear the dragon that looked like Jake reply in Jake's voice. "But before this week, we never got to spend any time together in person. I just wanted to make up for lost time."

"That's really sweet of you Jake," she answered as she held his claw in her hand while his tail wrapped around their waists, "but sneaking out at night like this isn't the best idea. What if our families notice we're gone? Or the Fletchers, for that matter?"

The kids were more surprised than ever. The dragon didn't just look like Jake, it WAS Jake? And Rose knew about it? After whispering quietly to each other about this new information for roughly half a minute, they heard Jake's voice in their headsets.

"Gramps and my parents will probably tear me to shreds if they do, but Trixie, Spud, Haley, and Fu will cover for me. They understand what we've been through. As for the Fletchers," he trailed off as he stood up, uncoiled his tail, and turned toward the bushes. "How much of that did you guys hear?"

Realizing that they'd been caught, Candace and the boys stood up from the bushes.

"The whole thing," Candace stuttered nervously.

"We've got to tell them, don't we?" Rose asked as she stood up.

"Well they did see us here and Fu didn't bring any mind-wipe potions with him, so I guess so. We can always erase their memories later."

"Why do you have to erase our memories just because we know you're a dragon?" Phineas asked innocently.

"Because it's supposed to be a secret," Jake replied. "I got enough trouble telling Trixie and Spud, and Rose wasn't exactly on their good side to begin with."

"Why's that?" Candace asked, nervous about the fact that she was talking to a fire breathing dragon.

"It's complicated," Rose replied. And with that she began to explain their long and complicated relationship to her hosts.

* * *

**I Realized as I was writing this that I needed to break it into two halves, so I'm going to get the next part up by the end of the week.**


	9. Sworn to Secrecy

**Sorry this chapter is so short. The previous one was getting a bit too long, so I had to break it up.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Sworn to Secrecy:**

"How romantic," Candace said dreamily. Jake and Rose had just finished telling the Flynn-Fletcher kids the story of their relationship. The three kids listened with wide-eyed wonder. They'd never heard a more amazing tale. Once the explanation was done, Jake agreed to fly them back to their house, and after picking up the three bikes hidden in the bushes, they set off.

"It's like Romeo and Juliet getting a happy ending," Phineas added as they flew back to the house.

"Wait," Candace interrupted. "Aren't you two a little young to have read Romeo and Juliet?"

"Yes," he replied as Jake landed gently on the roof next to Candace's window. "Yes we are."

"Don't worry you two," Candace continued after Jake and Rose kissed each other goodnight. "You're secret's safe with us. We swear we won't tell anyone about either of your secrets"

"Thanks," Jake replied as the four kids climbed quietly through the window. "Just don't ask me questions about it when my family is around. Otherwise, I'm dead meat."

"No problem," Phineas answered. "Goodnight, Jake. Hopefully you don't get in trouble with your family."

_It's getting harder and harder to keep this a secret, _Jake thought to himself. _Spud's going to end up telling Stacey eventually, same for Trixie with Kyle, and whoever Nigel ends up with. Rotwood doesn't need to try and expose us. We're doing a good job of that already. _


	10. Obtaining the Bait

**Chapter 9: Obtaining the Bait**

_Can this day get any duller? _Rose thought to herself as the group walked into the umpteenth clothing store. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy shopping. It was just that her clothing needs were relatively few as a result of growing up in the Huntsclan. She liked browsing to see what the latest trends were from time to time, but she'd had enough three stores ago. Jake's mother, her mother, and her friend were reminiscing over the things they done to earn money in college as they browsed through the racks of clothing. Her internal monologue was interrupted when Candace joined her and Trixie over by the door so they could talk without being heard.

"I never got to ask last night," she whispered, "but what was it like when you found out Jake was a dragon." Trixie's eyes went wide when she heard what the girl was saying.

"It's okay, Trix," Rose said to her before she could open her mouth. "She found out last night when Jake snuck over for a late night flight."

"Alright," Trixie replied with a knowing smirk. "Welcome to the club, Candace," she continued as she turned to the redhead.

"Well," Rose began as she answered Candace's question. "When I saw Jake transform in front of me, my world crumbled. Up until that point, I'd gotten pretty good at balancing life in the Huntsclan with my school life. But when I found out about Jake, I realized I had to choose between everything I'd been raised to believe, and the guy I loved. I just couldn't bring myself to kill him. So I chose love."

"That's so sweet," Candace continued as the three girls watched the adults walk over to the cash register to pay for the shirts they'd gotten for their daughters.

"Congratulations!" the cashier called out. "You're our two millionth customers, so you've won free dresses and a rewards card."

"Free dresses?" Candace shouted as the three teens heard the cashier's energetic proclamation and walked over to join the adults. "COOL!"

"If you'd all please follow me so that we can go and get your dresses fitted," the cashier continued as she led the six ladies toward the fitting rooms. Trixie, who hung in the back of the group, couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about the pale faced woman. The ladies finally reached the back of the store. By that time, Trixie had realized why the woman seemed so familiar. But by then, it was already too late.

"Time for your prize," Fury said with a malicious smirk as she removed her hat and unleashed her hair. Each serpentine tendril lashed out and grabbed her prisoners by the wrist, restraining them as one by one she subjected them to her hypnotic stare. When her captives' eyes all glowed red, she smiled. "You all get to help me destroy the American Dragon in the cruelest way possible."


	11. Not-So Ordinary Pets

**Sorry this Chapter is a little short. I was going to have it at the end of the last chapter, but I realized that it worked better as a separate chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Not-So Ordinary Pets**

Meanwhile, Fu was in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard pretending to be an ordinary dog. Unfortunately, that was pretty hard for him to do. He and Jonathan had gotten along quite swimmingly after the cat was out of the bag, but right now everybody was off doing their own thing. The ladies were out shopping, the dads were sitting in the dining room sharing stories, and the boys were off doing who knows what. That left Fu all by himself in the backyard with only a simple platypus for company. And boy was he bored out of his wits.

Suddenly, Fu saw something that piqued his curiosity: Perry looked down at his wrist, stood up on his hind legs, pulled a fedora out of nowhere, and slipped behind a tree.

"Interesting…" Fu commented to himself as he followed the platypus just in time to see him vanish through a trap door at the tree's base. Fu's instincts told him to leave it be until it turned out to be important, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he jumped in after the platypus.

Fu's eyes nearly popped out of their skull in surprise as he exited the tube and found himself in a large underground lair. The kind superheroes used as their secret base hidden beneath their homes. As he stood up on his hind legs and looked around, he saw all kinds of high-tech, platypus themed-gadgetry from a moped to a flying car. An authoritative, commanding voice boomed from the large screen he'd noticed on the opposite wall of the room, shocking him back to his senses.

"CARL!" a white-haired man shouted from the screen. "How did that dog get in here?"

"Agent P's family has houseguests for the week, sir," a high-pitched, nasally voice, apparently Carl, replied, still coming from the screen. "Evidently, they brought a dog with them. And boy is he chubby."

"HEY!" Fu reflexively snapped. "I've been on a diet for three weeks now, thank you very much." His face immediately froze with a look of terror as he realized what he'd just done.

"GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!" A talking dog!" The white-haired man exclaimed. "How is this possible?"

Seeing that there was no way out of his current situation, Fu took a deep breath, pulled up a chair, and began to explain a distorted version of the truth.

"We swear to keep your secret then," Major Monogram said after he and Fu had exchanged introductions. "While you're here though, would you mind helping Agent P with his latest assignment? It seems his nemesis, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, has teamed up with someone named "Fury" regarding revenge against their nemesis, who will be in town for the week."

"Sure," Fu replied, trying to hide his panic at the thought that Fury was nearby plotting revenge against Jake and that she was going to ask this week. "I've got nothing better to do."

"Great," Monogram continued. "Agent P knows where Doofenshmirtz is and how he operates, so please get out there and put a stop to whatever he and this "Fury" are planning.

"Alright, Duckbill," Fu said as he and Perry made they climbed into Perry's hovercar and buckled their seatbelts. "Let's go thwart some evil!"

* * *

**Well, Fu and Monogram have now met. I don't want the O.W.C.A. to know about magic just yet, (that'll come later in the saga) so I decided that Fu should keep his explanation of how he can talk as vague as possible. **


	12. Setting the Trap

**Sorry this Chapter is so short. The next one might be longer. MIGHT.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Setting the Trap**

"So how tough are your scales exactly?" Phineas asked as Jake closed the door with his tail. Jake had filled Spud in on the previous night's events, and now the four boys were sitting upstairs discussing Jake's abilities and the magical world in general while Lao Shi slept off the jetlag upstairs and the dads sat in the dining room catching up on each other's lives and swapping family stories. The girls had all gone shopping a few hours ago, so the men had the house to themselves.

"They're harder than diamonds," Jake replied as he looked out the window. Something had felt off to him this morning, like something bad was about to happen. He'd been on edge all day. "It'd take an older dragon's claws to actually cut me."

"That's amazing!" Phineas responded. Ferb was silent as usual throughout the conversation, but he'd always nod his understanding whenever somebody finished a sentence. The boys were enjoying learning about the supernatural, and their curiosity amused the older duo, who were used to such things by now. Their conversation was interrupted when Lawrence called up the stairs.

"Boys, we're going to go pick the ladies up from their shopping extravaganza. We'll be back in about an hour."

"Okay!" The four boys shouted down the stairs. "Bye!"

"That was pretty quick," Spud commented once they heard the front door close. "I've never known a girl to shop in less than two hours.

"That's 'cause you're always obsessing over Stacey," Jake joked as the four of them walked downstairs.

"Hey," Spud shot back, "We've been together since the daylight-savings time dance."

They all laughed as they sat down on the couch and continued to share stories of magic and inventions for the next hour, completely unaware of the trap their families and friends had just walked into.


	13. Ultimatum

**Chapter 12: Ultimatum**

After an hour of waiting, the boys were more than a little nervous.

"It doesn't take an hour for them to drive downtown and back," Phineas explained as he and Ferb tested the limits of Jake's powers.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Spud commented as Jake morphed back into human form. "I mean, they've got a dragon and a ninja with them. Rose and Haley can handle anything that comes their way."

Jake smiled, reassured by Spud's statement and proud of his girlfriend's fighting skills. "You're right, Spud," he added, "They'll be fine."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the doorbell rang.

"That's probably the mailman," Phineas said as they walked back into the house. They walked into the living room and sat down on the couch while the younger boys went to retrieve the mail

"Well this is a weird package," Phineas commented as he placed the mailing envelope on the coffee table. "I don't think anybody ordered anything online lately."

"Well the only way to find out what it is is to open it," Spud added as he reached over and tore open the envelope to reveal a cd with the words American Dragon written on it in red ink.

"I'll put it in," he said and moved to put the disc in the DVD player as the implications of what this meant hit them like a freight train. Someone knew not only what Jake was but where he was staying. Their fears were only confirmed when Spud pressed play on the remote and Fury's green skin and serpentine hair filled the screen.

"Greetings, American Dragon," she began as a smug grin appeared on her face. "If you're wondering how I knew where to send this ransom video, then you should really talk to you cheerleader friend about her blogging habits."

"Ransom video?" Jake yelled as he jumped up in anger.

"Trixie has been blogging too much lately," Spud commented offhandedly as the video continued.

"I assume you've noticed the prolonged absence of your family, friends, and hosts," Fury added as she moved to turn the camera. The four boys' jaws hit the floor at the sight of their parents, siblings, Trixie, Rose, and her family unconscious and chained to the wall.

"As you can see," she went on, "I've captured your family, your friend, your hosts, and even your precious slayer. For every hour that you don't surrender to me, one of them will die. If you care about their safety, you will come to this address and face me. Alone. At the first sign of your dog or your grandfather, your girlfriend dies first."

Jake simply sat on the couch in shock, a look of sheer horror written all over his face as Fury began to recite the address where she was. After writing down the address, Spud turned off the TV and removed the disc.

"I have to go," Jake said as he stood up from the couch. There was no way he would let any of their families die.

"But Jake," Spud added as he pocketed the CD. "You know it's a trap. She's probably got sphinx hair nets and chains made from unicorn horn."

"It doesn't matter," he replied as he walked into the back yard. "Lives are at stake."

And with that, he "dragoned up" and flew off towards the Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. Building, leaving Phineas, Ferb, and Spud standing in the door.

"So, since I can't leave you two home alone and go save the day," Spud began, "what do we do now?"

"Hey Ferb," Phineas thought aloud as the three watched Jake fly off, "do we still have the suits of armor from that medieval tournament we had in England?"

* * *

"So, Perry the Platypus and strange talking dog," Dr. Doofenshmirtz began as he turned toward Agent P and Fu, who were now caged in his evil lair. "I bet you are wondering what I'm doing today."

_Oy_, Fu thought to himself, _and here I thought my personal intelligence standards were too high. _He and Perry were captured by the mad scientist, who in Fu's opinion was dressed more like a Pharmacist, almost as soon as they arrived in the villain's hideout. _Does Perry seriously have to put up with this idiot on a daily basis?_ He quickly shot the Platypus a look of pity as Doofenshmirtz continued to ramble about his latest scheme and how he met Fury.

* * *

In another room, Jake came crashing through the window and morphed back into human form. He looked around angrily.

"Alright Fury, I'm here," he shouted. "Show yourself."

The instant the words left his mouth, the boy was knocked off his feet. When he stood up, he realized that his hands and feet were now bound with shackles of pure, unfiltered Sphinx hair and chains made of Unicorn horn.

"There is a catch, Dragon," Fury spat from the shadows.

"Of course there is," Jake shot back.

"Anyway," she continued, "If you want to face me and free your family," In an instant Jake was back on the floor. He looked up in horror to see Rose standing over him wearing her battle gear from Hong Kong with her Huntstaff aimed at his throat, her eyes glowing red.

"You must strike down the girl you love.


	14. True Love's Kiss

**Possibly the longest chapter so far.**

* * *

**Chapter 13: True Love's Kiss**

Jake's mouth was open in horror at the choice before him: let Fury escape and continue her attempts to regain power, or kill the love of his life.

"No. I won't fight you, Rose," he said, already weak from the Sphinx hair. Unfortunately, Rose didn't have a choice in the matter, as she brought her staff down with enough force to pierce Jake's heart, but tore off a piece of his shirt instead as he barely rolled out of the way. "You have to fight it, Rose," he continued. "I know you can."

The one-sided battle continued, with Rose on the offensive and Jake struggling to retreat. However little details, such as a slight hesitation before each swing of her staff or clutching her head for a moment as if in pain, told Jake that he was getting through to her.

"I know you're in there, Rose," he added as he narrowly avoided becoming a dragon shish kabob. "You're stronger than her. I know you are."

As their duel lengthened, Rose's attempts to fight back became more and more frequent. But Fury still managed to maintain control. On top of that, Jake was becoming weaker by the minute from exposure to the Sphinx hair.

The fight went on like this for another fifteen minutes when the door was knocked in with a splintering crack.

"And that's the beauty of using a battering ram to storm a villain's lair," Phineas said as he, Ferb, and Spud charged into the room in full medieval armor, sneaking over to where their families were chained up.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jake shouted when he noticed them as he blocked a punch from Rose.

"Lending a hand," Phineas replied as they ran toward the prisoners.

"Wait," Spud called to the step-brothers. When they stopped and looked at him, he turned back to Jake. "They're all probably being mind-controlled right now aren't they?"

"What gave it away?" Jake replied sarcastically before Rose kicked him in the stomach. "Get Fury," he groaned as he doubled over in pain.

"I don't think so," the gorgon called out as she released her other hostages to do battle with her attackers. Phineas and Ferb were quickly surrounded by Jake and Rose's families as well as their own. Spud became locked in a duel with Trixie. The boys ducked and dodged to avoid their friends' and families' attacks. Within minutes they were evenly matched. Nobody was able to gain a foothold until Jake finally collapsed from the pain of the Sphinx Hair. Rose stood over him, preparing to deliver the final blow. Jake closed his eyes.

Suddenly everybody stumbled and fell as a powerful explosion rocked the building. A muffled curse of "CURSE YOU!" and some name that they couldn't make out came from the room next door. Jake opened his eyes as he and Rose locked lips while he caught her as she fell. He breathed a strained sigh of relief when she opened her eyes and he saw that they weren't glowing red. She was free.

"Jake," she gasped. "There's a gorgon in…" she trailed off as she looked around, taking in her environment. "How did I get here?" she asked.

"I'll explain later," he answered. "Right now, I could use a hand," he added as he indicated the sphinx hair around his wrist.

"Fury was controlling me, wasn't she?" Rose asked as she grabbed the huntstaff Fury had acquired from a nearby abandoned huntslair and gently sliced apart the shackles.

"Yeah," Jake replied sadly as he rubbed his wrists and sat up, beginning to feel better as soon as the hair left his body. "But at least you didn't hurt anybody."

"But Jake," she said, "I could have killed you."

"But you didn't," he countered. "I could tell you were doing your best to fight her the entire time. That gave me time to move out of the way of your swings."

"I'm so sorry," she replied.

"Don't be," he continued, "it wasn't your fault. Besides, we won."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that!" Fury shouted as she braced herself on the catwalk upon which she stood. "I will destroy you all!" And Fury began laughing manically before a blue platypus came flying at her from the shadows, kicking her in the face and knocking her unconscious, freeing the rest of her hostages. Fu ran over as Perry landed on his feet, motioning for the secret agent to go, and giving him a wink to silently promise to cover for him.

"It's okay, guys!" Fu shouted down. She's down.

"Fu!" Jake shouted back. "Man, am I glad to see you! How'd you find us?"

"I saw the video on the coffee table," the dog lied, covering up the fact that he and Perry had just destroyed Doofenshmirtz's newest Inator in the next room. "As soon as I figured out where you were headed I came running. I just got here a minute ago."

"We need to wake up Haley so we can get everybody out of here," Jake replied as he shifted into dragon form.

"I'll get her," Rose offered as she hugged her boyfriend and was about to walk over to where Jake's sister was lying on the floor when suddenly…

"Rose," her parents' voices came from across the room. "Why are you hugging a dragon."

"You're just dreaming mom," she hastily replied, hoping to get her parents to avoid revealing their secret to any more people.

"Well, that's weird," Lawrence Fletcher added as everybody stood up. "Because Linda and I are having the same dream too."

There was just enough time for the dragon and the former slayer to exchange panicked glances with Trixie, Spud, Haley, Candace, Phineas, Ferb, Fu, and Jake's parents before they spoke.

"We're gonna have to tell them aren't we?" Jake asked her.

When she nodded silently, all he could say was "Aww mann."

* * *

**What was Doofenshmirtz's new inator you ask? I'll leave that to your imagination. **


	15. Star-Crossed Lovers

**Almost done. This is the last main chapter. I'm going to try to have the epilogue up by next week.**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Star-Crossed Lovers: **

"So to sum it all up, Jake used a bunch of wish-granting skulls to give us the happy life together we always wanted in order to save my life, but I forgot he existed as a consequence. The whole thing back in Hong Kong was him trying to get me to remember him and me not believing him. Seeing the picture of us together at the fall dance pretty much brought all those memories back, so while you were all off at your various things that night I snuck over to Victoria Peak to help seal an evil dragon in another dimension, and Jake and I finally got back together." Only after she and Jake had finished explaining their complicated relationship to her family and the Flynn-Fletchers did they finally remember to breath. The couple exchanged nervous glances with each other and giver her parents pleading ones as they anxiously waited to see if her family would accept Jake or not.

"Under normal circumstances," her mother began, "I'd think you were either trying to hide something, or going a little crazy."

"But after everything we've seen today," her father added, "This doesn't seem so far-fetched."

"Do you have any proof that this whole "Huntsclan" stuff is real?" her sister asked. "Don't get me wrong," she continued. "I believe you about you boyfriend being a dragon, but I'm just wondering if there's any physical proof that you lived a whole other live without us?"

"Well," Rose replied as she reached into her pockets. "All we have is a photo of us at the fall dance in seventh grade." She pulled the photo that had restored her memories out of her pocket and passed it down to her sister. After a few moments examining the photograph of her twin sister in a dress Lily knew she had never had, she passed to her parents for them to examine. After a few more minutes, the passed the picture back to the young couple, who released their breath that they didn't realized they'd been holding.

"I'm still not really comfortable with the idea of you dating a fire-breathing dragon, sweatheart," her father began. Jake and Rose prepared for the worst.

"But since he saved our lives today," her mother added, "I don't think there's anything we can complain about. The two of you clearly care about each other, and I don't see anything wrong with the two of you continuing your relationship."

Jake breathed an immense sight of relief as Rose ran over and hugged her parents before coming back and planting a big kiss of his lips.

"Lawrence," Jonathan spoke up as Jake and Rose sat back down. "I hate to impose on your family and everything, but secrecy is still a big thing for the magical world apparently, so…"

"Oh, don't worry about it, old chum," Lawrence replied. "Our lips are sealed."

"Thank you so much, sir," Jake added. "Anyone else would probably have erased your memories of magic, but I always try to avoid it."

"What are you trying to avoid this time, grandson?" everybody whirled around to find Lao Shi walking down the stairs after spending the entire day sleeping off the Jetlag.

"Nothing, G," Jake hastily replied, surprised by his grandfather's sudden appearance and marveling at the fact that Gramps had managed to sleep through everything that had happened.

"Good," Lao Shi continued as he sat down at the dinner table. "Now what are we having for dinner? I'm hungry."

Everybody laughed at Lao Shi's obliviousness while they debated what to eat for dinner. With Fury now sitting in prison on the Isle of Draco, they could all relax for the rest of the week.

* * *

**Sorry this saga is taking so long, but I've got a hectic schedule at the moment. I'll try to post more regularly the closer we get to December. **

**Bit of self promotion hear, but be sure to check out the other story in my Acolytes of Darkness Saga, After the Battle, which takes place before this story. **


	16. Epilogue: Death and Rebirth

**WARNING: Major Spoilers for the Kingdom Hearts series in this part.**

* * *

E**pilogue: Death and Rebirth**

_I can't believe I was beaten by a platypus! _Fury thought to herself as she filed her nails within the confines of her cell on the Isle of Draco. _I could live with being defeated by the American Dragon, his Dragon master, his slayer lover, or even that talking dog of his, but to be defeated by a non-magical animal is just so… so… _

Her mental ranting was interrupted by the sounds of a fight coming from down the hall near the guard station at the entrance to Draco's prison wing. She tried to position herself in her cell so that she could get a good look at what was going on, but her cell was too far away for her to make out anything clearly. Unsure of what to make of it, she went back to filing her nails until the sounds of combat finally stopped, and the sound of footsteps walking down the hall took their place.

She looked up from her nails to see a woman in black standing in front of her cell door, blonde hair gelled to resemble antennae. She wasn't magical, but Fury could sense a strange aura around her. Clearly, this was no ordinary mortal. Fury's curiosity only intensified when her visitor reached over, key in hand, and unlocked the cell door.

"Wha… who are you?" Fury asked as her apparent rescuer gestured for her to follow before she turned and walked back down the hallway towards the exit.

"I'll answer your questions once we get out of here," was all her rescuer said in reply as she reached the exit. To Fury's surprise, the other woman stopped before the door and gestured before them with her hands. Before Fury could even open to ask why they'd stop, a swirling black vortex appeared before them in front of the door.

"What is that?" Fury asked her companion in a harsh whisper.

"Do you want to get out of here or not?" the blonde retorted before stepping through the vortex. Intrigued and seeing no better alternative, Fury quickly followed. After a short walk through what felt like a pitch-black tunnel, they reemerged in a massive cavern filled with crystals of varying sizes. Taking her eyes off the admittedly mesmerizing sight, Fury turned to her rescuer.

"Alright, time for some answers," she began. "Who are you? What is this place? How did we get here? And more importantly, why did you free me?" Her rescuers pinched the bridge of her nose for a few moments before she responded.

"My name is Arlene. We're in the abandoned mines beneath the ruins of Radiant Garden. We traveled here using a Corridor of Darkness, and I freed you because it was my master's bidding." Fury took a minute to process the rapid-fire answers before giving voice to her newest question.

"And who is your master?"

Instead of a name, Arlene answered Fury's question with a question of her own.

"Have you ever heard of the Keyblade War?"

Fury stiffened with shock at the mention of the ancient conflict that began her family's rise to power. _How does she know of this? _She thought to herself. _All records of the war were destroyed over a millennium ago. All mortals who witnessed it are long dead. _Sensing her shock, Arlene continued.

"I thought so. If you're wondering how I know about the war, I'm sure you remember how the world was shattered in the aftermath of the war. Those who survived that cataclysmic finale rebuilt society on their own little fragments. Did you honestly think that your world was the only one that supported life?"

"Then why was contact never established until now?" Fury asked, her shock subsiding as her curiosity grew.

"It hasn't," Arlene replied. "The fragments of the original world are scattered and isolated. The few people who are aware that other inhabited worlds exist are encouraged not to interfere with the affairs of other worlds. Foolish if you ask me."

"So who is your master?" she asked as Arlene led her through the old mining tunnels towards an area where a campsite appeared to be set up.

"My master is anarchy incarnate," Arlene replied. "A spirt of chaos given life in the final days of the War in a last desperate attempt by the forces of Darkness to claim victory over the Light. Unfortunately, the forces of light managed to imprison him against all odds in the very nexus of darkness that had birthed him. However, over the millennia, even while imprisoned, he has managed to attract a cult of follower devoted to his will. Even so, he can only squeeze pieces of himself out of his prison for short periods of time, but we are even now putting in motion a plan to free him once and for all. When we cannot communicate with him, we receive our instructions through his Herald, a disembodied spirit of pure darkness."

"And what does your master want with me?" Fury asked when they finally reached the campsite.

"I've spent the last week visiting this world eliminating wild cards and scoping out potential recruits to our little cult," the other woman answered. Fury perked up as she realized the opportunity before her. She could join this little cult and work her way up through the ranks until she was in a high enough position that she could begin her reign of conquest anew on a wider scale. _A new world, _she thought to herself, _a new start. _

"I'm flattered by your master's invitation, and I…" Fury was interrupted when Arlene turned around to face her and Fury noticed the malicious look in the cultist's eyes.

"You misunderstand," she snarled. "I'm not here to recruit you." Fury didn't even have time to think before her supposed rescuer lunged forward and stabbed her through the heart with an amber dagger. The blonde leaned in closer with a devious smirk on her face.

"I came to take out the competition," she added with a playful smile as the light left her targets eyes. _Well, _the assassin thought to herself, _that's it for now. Time to head back and get this undercover mission over with. _

**Two Weeks Later… **

"You seek answers." The black – robed man told her as she stood in amidst the ruins of what was once a magnificent city, beneath which lay the abandoned caverns where she'd killed the gorgon mere weeks before. _I have all the answers I need, you old coot, _the blonde haired woman thought to herself as her name appeared in large glowing letters floating before her.

"I can give you purpose," the Nobody before her continued as the letters in her name began to spin around her in a large circle so fast she thought she'd pass out from the dizziness, but she didn't. _My purpose is to serve the Chaos Lord's bidding, _she continued her mental monologue. _To kill petty tyrants and psychopaths like you, Xehanort, who would act against his designs._

Oblivious to his newest recruit's mental condemnation of him, Xemnas extended his hand towards the ring of spinning letters. In an instant the spinning stopped. The letters had rearranged themselves to form a new name, with an "X" now added to it. The woman once known as Arlene took a deep breath before reading out her new identity that she would bear for as long as her mission required.

"Larxene."


End file.
